CRAP, Plagiarism, and You

For this week, we are reading about the CRAP principles and how they relate to the final project. CRAP is a major component of graphic design, and stands for Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. They are the ground rules that should be followed while designing something visual, and help to increase the quality of the finished work. Below is a link to a comedy short that demonstrates why not following these guidelines would be a bad move.

Cracked: The Most Terrifying Powerpoint Presentation Ever

This comedy short draws some of its humor from the lack of CRAP design principles in the protagonists PowerPoint presentation. The largest offense is the inconsistent font size and the apparent randomness of the word placement. Of course, there are other obvious aspects that could be improved upon, such as the general blandness of the color and font choices as well. However, there are some redeeming qualities of the presentation. 

Prompt 1: After watching the comedy short posted above, point out at least one of the CRAP principles the “TRUCK SALES” PowerPoint adheres to.

Another subject that is covered this week is the proper method of doing research. We are tasked with watching various infographics and videos that explain the basic concepts of academic research. One of the videos discusses what plagiarism is, and how to avoid it. Avoiding plagiarism is one of the main concerns while doing research for the final project, and careful steps must be taken to avoid doing it, intentionally or otherwise.

One famous case of plagiarism has to do with the band Led Zeppelin, and how they allegedly copied the work of other musicians. Some say that the band outright stole the music from past performers, while others claim they adapted the music into a different, more modern style. Above is a video comparing the work of Led Zeppelin to those they allegedly stole from.  

Prompt 2: This week we ask you to post other cases of plagiarism, famous or otherwise, and discuss whether it was intentional or simply a mistake. If it was a mistake, what could they have done differently to avoid plagiarizing?

Prompt 3: The quote by Herbert Simon listed on the homepage of UML’s Know How website states:“…the wealth of information means a dearth of something else; a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious; it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.” -Herbert Simon. What exactly does this mean to you? Do you agree or disagree? What are some examples that directly support his argument within the website? Are there other relative examples you can come up with on your own? Share and discuss your arguments and ideas.​

Here is a link to the Cracked video in case the above link is broken : http://www.cracked.com/video_18699_the-most-terrifying-powerpoint-presentation-ever.html 

Women in the Media and Society

So this week we are reading “The Empire of Images in Our World of Bodies” by Susan Bordo and we are watching Miss Representation in class. Susan Bordo discusses how images and the media portray ideals for women and girls. Plastic surgery and age defying methods are a focus at the beginning, but then she transitions to gender differences for toys and videos by talking about her daughter. Miss Representation depicts how society sees women and how the media portrays them. For example, how men see woman in politics and how women feel the need to compete with other women.

For this blog posting we have two options for discussion:

Figure 1: Halle Berry - Catwoman.
Retrieved from: http://tytempletonart.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/the-top-ten-catwoman-actresses-2/

Option 1: Miss Representation talked about women in film and television. The point was made that there are very few women protagonists that are complex or have story lines void of love stories or involving any men sexually/romantically. An argument could be made that Catwoman is an example of such a woman protagonist. Not only are there few women protagonists, but also few producers, writers, and directors that are women in the industry. We propose that you find an example of a woman protagonist who is not what the film deems the “bangable” hero or the chick flick heroine. On the flip side, we propose that you find a blatant example of such a “bangable” hero or a classic chick flick heroine. Try to post a video, image, trailer, or movie poster that you can find with one these women and discuss how they are an example of one of these stereotypes or not.

Option 2: In “The Empire of Images in Our World of Bodies” by Susan Bordo, there is a point about gender and advertisements along with consumer items. If you ever walked into a toy store there is a girl aisle and a boy aisle. The only aisles that sometimes you can find gender neutral toys are the baby aisles. We would like it if you could find an advertisement that is gender neutral for toys or any other consumer item. Or find one that is so completely stereotypical, that it is very obvious. On the other hand, find a toy or an example from a store that is gender neutral as well. Think about Susan’s article and make argument about how this reflects and affects children in our society. Below we've included commercials that we found are very gender specific, along with one little girl's opinion about toys and gender.

Figure 2: Nerf Strike Commercial. 

Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngjla695Ju0

Figure 3: Easy Bake Oven Commercial. 

Retrieve from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lreImESlrG0

Figure 4: Riley on Marketing.

Retrieved: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CU040Hqbas

Welcome to the Visual Rhetoric course blog!

Hi there! This blog is a collaborative project that we sustain all semester as we try to figure out what "visual rhetoric" is and how we can better understand the "visual culture" in which we live. You will each have a turn to run this space by posting found images, contemporary case studies involving visual communication, and --of course-- your astute observations on the course readings that will delight the class and viewers around the world!



Image from the 42.395 Course Syllabus by Jenna Vinson